Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. Records may include names of other relatives who were witnesses or members of the congregation. The members of some churches were predominantly of one nationality or ethnic group.

In the decades following statehood, the largest religious groups in Illinois were the Methodist, Episcopal, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches. These groups came primarily from the southern states. At the same time, Congregationalists, Lutherans, and members of the Reformed faiths came from the eastern states. Roman Catholics became numerous in Illinois after 1860, especially in the northern industrial areas. Several counties in the northeastern part of the state became havens for Lutheran Scandinavians.[1]

The Family History Library has microfilm of the records and histories of several religious denominations including Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist churches. To learn what church records are available at the Family History Library go to the Family History Library Catalog and, at the Place-Names Search, type in the name of the town or county where an ancestor lived. From the list of subjects, choose "Church records" which will indicate what records are available for that locale.

Most church records are scattered and remain in the custody of existing churches. Some, however, have been collected into central repositories, especially those from congregations that have merged or disbanded. To find the existance of records, you may wish to write to the addresses given below to learn where records of an area are located. For churches not listed on this page, see United States Church Records for further information on repositories and collections.

Non-Denominational

Ruth E. Browning abstracted names and events from The Christian Messenger and created an every– name index. The Christian Messenger was a religious newspaper during the 1800's which included "letters with information about the churches, obituaries, death notices, names of subscribers, letters from preachers, etc."[2] The information abstracted from this newspaper came from numerous counties in Illinois.

Baptist

The American Baptist Historical Society in Rochester, New York, is national in scope, though records in the archive cover primarily the eastern United States. The records are mostly statistical in nature. They may have some information about ministers and missionaries, but they may have little more than lists of lay members. Any records of births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths were kept by the choice of the minister, not by mandate of the church. The departing minister may or may not have left his records with the church or a succeeding minister.

The Ministerial Directory of the Baptist Churches in the United States of America. Oxford, Ohio: Ministerial Directory Co., 1899. Digital version at Google Books.This 1899 directory of Baptist ministers lists biographical details about many ministers born or serving in the state:[3]

Smith, Justin A. A History of the Baptists in the Western States East of the Mississippi, Philadelphia : American Baptist Publication Society, 1896. Ancestry.com ($) Digital version at Google Books.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)

Early church records, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for Illinois Wards and Branches can be found on microfilm and are located at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The film numbers for each ward can be accessed through the Family History Library Catalog, or by refering to:

Disciples of Christ

Episcopal

There was little Episcopal activity early in central and southern Illinois, but a church was organized in Chicago in 1824.[4] Some records are kept at the Historiographer's office, Episcopal Diocesan Center, 821 South Second St. in Springfield, Illinois 61704. See the Episcopal Church Wiki page for further information on a National level.

Lutheran

The ELCA Archives (formerly known as the ALC Archives or Archives of the American Lutheran Church) is the central archive for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States. If a church unit is still active, the archives will help locate its records. If a church has been disbanded, its records will be located in the archives. The archives will accept genealogy requests by mail. It has microfilm copies of records for many congregations, which can be borrowed for a small fee. A partial list of church records in the archive collection is listed in:

ALC Archives. ALC Congregations on Microfilm. Dubuque, Iowa: The Archives, 197–?. FHL fiche 6330690–6330693. The records are arranged by state and city of congregation. Fiche 6330690 includes Illinois.

Methodist

The Illinois Great Rivers Conference UMC Historical Society was recently created through the merger of the Southern and the Central conferences and its records cover central and southern Illinois as well as records of some disbanded congregations. Members of the staff will do some searching of those records for a small fee.

The Archive of the Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary houses the records of the Northern Illinois Conference of the Evangelical Methodist Church. In addition to records of disbanded churches, it has records of many Scandinavian congregations. The archive has no direct phone line, so you will need to make inquiries by mail. Selected records of the archive have been microfilmed and are in the Family History Library collection.

Find-A-Church gives a listing of Methodist churches in Illinois arranged by town and city.

Presbyterian

Prior to 1815 there were not many Presbyterians who came to Illinois and established their first church at Sharon in 1816. They cooperated closely in mission work with the Congregationalists in Illinois..[4] To learn more about where to write for records, see the Presbyterian Church Wiki page.

The telephone number of the Archive and Record Center accesses a voice mail menu. Selecting the "reference" option allows a caller to place a request for genealogical research.

The Family History Library has microfilm copies of parish records from the Archdiocese of Chicago to 1915. These may be accessed by typing Chicago, Illinois at the Place-names Search of the library catalog. Once at the list of subjects for Chicago, choose "Church records."

The book A Time of Favor: The Story of the Catholic Family of Southern Illinois by Betty Burnett contains a great deal of historical context that will help genealogists better understand their ancestors' lives.

The Drouin Collection

This database contains the French Catholic parish records from the United States. It is the U.S. part of the U.S. and French-Canadian Drouin Collection. It includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and Pennsylvania. For more details on these records and the rest of the Drouin Collection see "The Drouin Collection: Six Databases"

The types of records include baptisms, marriages, and burials as well as confirmations, dispensations, censuses, statements of readmission to the church, and so on. They are written mainly in French, as well as English, Latin, and Italian.

When searching this database, be creative in the spellings when searching for an ancestor. The French language has many possible spellings for names and there are always indexing errors as well.

Missions

Many early missions were established by religious denominations to serve the Indians, including:

Records may also be found at the Lilly Library in Richmond, IndianaLilly Library, Earlham College Archives801 National Road WestRichmond, Indiana 47374-4095(765) 983-1287Friends Collection and College Archives

↑Davis points out that not all ministers participated, see: Robert S. Davis, "Some Baptist Ministers of South Carolina at the Turn of the Century," The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Winter 2004):13-22. FHL Book 975.7 B2sc v. 32